


Of (Space) Dogs and Good Intentions

by realityisiron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Pets, Dogs, Gen, Happy Birthday Shiro (Voltron), Shiro gets a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 06:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11225592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realityisiron/pseuds/realityisiron
Summary: When in doubt, get your friendly neighborhood Black Paladin a dog for his birthday.Well, considering you're in a galaxy far far away, at least get him a space dog.Nothing will go wrong probably.





	Of (Space) Dogs and Good Intentions

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously Shiro needs a dog. This is not up for debate. 
> 
> If anyone wants to know what the space dog looks like, I drew this for Shiro's birthday: https://realityisiron.tumblr.com/post/157827356169/happy-almost-birthday-shiro-the-next-leap-year
> 
> Anyway, so uh, I've been writing lots of stuff for Voltron and managed to finish none of it yet except this so... enjoy? And if you like it, follow me on tumblr (https://realityisiron.tumblr.com)? I post random art there and bits of my writing that may or may not make it here, but I'll do my best. I try and have a good time getting excited about Voltron.
> 
> Un-beta'd stuff to follow. Have fun!

It took a solid eighteen ticks, but Shiro finally managed to get words out.

“It’s… It’s a dog. A _space_ dog.”

Shiro’s birthday party had been a total surprise from the start. He’d thought they’d all lost track of time. They knew they’d been gone for months, but what day was it really? In space it was impossible to tell.

But Pidge liked to look at the impossible and laugh.

She’d apparently done the math.

Then there was the matter of knowing it was his birthday. Keith knew when it was, but it was _Keith_. Keith’s internal topic-generator was capable of churning out: flying, the Red Lion, flying the Red Lion, his Galra identity crisis angst (this was a rare topic with a 1.8% chance of generating), and beating Zarkon. The odds of Shiro’s birthday slipping out were 0.35% in a majority of realities according to Slav.

But Shiro hadn’t accounted for Lance worshipping the ground Shiro walked on - along with every other surface he touched. Lance knew Shiro’s birthday after doing a rather intense amount of research into his hero at 3 in the morning when he should have been writing a five paged critique on his last flight simulation for Iverson. When Pidge had managed to correctly figure out it was January 25th, Lance immediately leapt on that train. Well, first he went full out Fire Prince Zuko, season 2, episode 9 for missing Hunk’s birthday (a mistake he forcibly made everyone rectify by throwing Hunk a belated party of his own - a well intentioned thing despite the fact Hunk had to make his own birthday cake or risk eating whatever “scrumptious Altean dessert” Coran remembered). _Then_ he quickly informed the crew that Shiro’s birthday was coming up (well, sort of - leap year birthday tragedies and all that).

For a week this meant sneaking out of the castle in pairs to find space malls and marketplaces, hunting down the perfect gifts for Shiro. They’d encountered a woefully small selection of things Shiro might actually care about, all of which they’d forgotten to buy anyway because the great and fearsome Varkon had friends in high places. Please read that last part as: all space mall cops apparently know each other and will never forget an alleged space pirate.

They’d ended up hiding in the Intergalactic Humane Society which - due to the space mall cop #3’s intense bird allergy - ended up being the perfect hideout.

It also led to the purchase of one 3 foot, 75 pound female mammal, complete with a curly tail, indigo fur, and three sets of puppy eyes that no mere Earthling was capable of denying. The Gessrin guy had pulled out all the stops to convince them to adopt her, but buying her had probably been a done deal from the moment they laid eyes on her.

She’d cost all their money as well as all their sleep for the following three weeks, but they’d made it. Everything had been like out of a movie. They sang “Happy Birthday”, ate purple cake, and were just getting Shiro to sit down on the couch to open his present when their lively purchase finally lost her patience. Lance and Hunk’s painstakingly wrapped box (with strategic air holes) was destroyed within moments as the space dog bounded straight for Shiro, a large pink bow and “To Shiro” tag wrapped around her neck with care. Shiro had tensed for all of two seconds before the dog promptly flopped onto her back and panted at him, her legs flailing in the air.

He hadn’t been able to stop petting her since.

“What are you going to name her, Shiro?” Allura asked, leaning over the back of the couch to get a better look as Shiro’s new pet – a Mahrit according to the intergalactic humane society, though the Castle’s earth inhabitants stubbornly called it a space dog. Said space dog was currently curling herself into the tightest ball she possibly could, impressive considering how she had to fit her six legs _somewhere_. Unfortunately, she was her own worst enemy. Every time she almost made herself into a perfect ball, her six orange eyes would catch sight of Shiro and she’d rapidly uncurl to rub her face against his.

Shiro chuckled as the Mahrit pressed her nose against his forehead; her long, forked tongue slipping out to flick the tip of his nose. “I, I have no idea. I didn’t think I’d get a dog for… for decades, probably. Maybe Laika?”

Pidge’s mouth fell open in horror. “Shiro, you wouldn’t!” Keith rolled his eyes, expecting no less from Shiro. He returned his gaze back to the booklet in front of him, an in-depth instruction manual on adjusting the settings of one of the lower holo decks. Now that the giant space dog was out of the bag, they kind of needed a place for her to pee and play and do space dog things when they were in space for quintets on end.

Not quite as calm about Pidge’s outburst as Keith, Coran and Allura shared looks of confusion, mouths turned down in questioning frowns.

“What’s so wrong with Laika, Number Five? It sounds like a perfectly beautiful name.”

On the other side of the room, Lance and Hunk were reading a long list of strange words. “I forgot she’s trained to test for poisons! How did they do that? Wouldn’t that kill her? Or did they expose her to it in such small amounts it wouldn’t hurt her?” Hunk asked, peering over Lance’s shoulder. His face was pinched together, evidently imagining her training and not liking his mental image.

“Well, maybe she’s got like, a super sensitive nose or something. Dogs could detect drugs and bombs and stuff back home. Maybe poisons are, er, similar? Still, how about we try something a little… simpler. And less likely to kill her. Like, uh-“ Lance cleared his throat, glancing over at the dog in Shiro’s lap and lowering his voice an octave “ _speak_.”

No response. In fact, it was as if Lance had said nothing at all. The galaxy revolved around Shiro as far as the Mahrit was concerned. Her adoration was probably cute and super sweet - loving Shiro was kind of the whole point of getting her, but Lance enjoyed attention a _tad_ more than the average person and felt a little slighted. He’d cleaned up some rather strange stuff - a pool of bubbling Mahrit drool the color of Sunny D amongst other things - during the three weeks they’d kept her hidden aboard the castle, woken up at some ungodly hours for her and her disproportionately tiny bladder, and for what?

For her to complete ignore him.

Lance pouted, eying her with disappointment and a dash of hurriedly smothered indignation - _space kids today, so ungrateful, couldn’t appreciate everything their Uncle Lance had done for them_. “Huh, I was kind of hoping she’d- Oh! She was trained by that Gessrin guy,” Hunk pointed out.

Lance gasped. “So she would only respond to commands in _Gessrin_ ? As in _this_ stuff?” he asked, gesturing to the words sounded out with the English alphabet, but definitely not English in any way. Not Spanish or Altean either, or even that bit of Galra that Lance had started studying with some of the Blade members. Lance took a steadying breath. “Okay, fine, sure, we can work with this. But uh, how do you pronounce that?”

Back on the couch, Allura and Coran were giving Shiro expressions so scandalized he might have just admitted to drowning puppies. Which, alright, he _had_ just admitted to wanting to name his space pet after a dog that had _overheated in space_. Like, to-the-point-of-death overheated. Actually their expressions were probably fair.

“The poor thing!” Allura whispered, covering her mouth.

“An elegant and giving creature, sacrificed for the primitive advancements of man,” Coran lamented, throwing a hand to the wall and bowing his head. He put Shakespearian actors to shame.

“An Altean would never do such a thing!” Allura insisted. A debatable statement, considering an Altean in a bind or with a cruel streak very well may have done the same thing in hopes of getting the technology Allura now used. But given that Shiro didn’t know much Altean history – the language had seemed a bit higher priority – he had little to argue with. And it wasn’t like he disagreed about the whole thing being horrible, so he didn’t press. “You take it back right now! I order you as the princess of Altea to never name any creature Laika. Even as a memorial to her noble sacrifice.”

Shiro laughed as the Mahrit once again foiled her own intentions, rapidly unwinding her body to press her wet nose to the underside of Shiro’s jaw. “Of course, Princess.”

Pidge furrowed her brow. “Also, as if we didn’t need more reasons for why you’re terrible at naming things, but at Slav’s prison wasn’t that Galra guard’s yupper named Laika?”

Shiro frowned. “Was it? Why would a Galra-”

“ _Sahlen_!”

At the sound of Lance’s voice, the space dog’s head snapped towards him.

_Aha. Attention achieved. Uncle Lance and his impeccable language skills: 1. Ungrateful space dog: 0._

Then she dropped her jaw.

“BLAM BLAM BLAM!”

Silence.

Everyone stared at her, eyes round enough to put saucers to shame. The color drained from Shiro’s face and his mouth fell open. His new pet was evidently unaware of the shock she had just caused everyone. Forked tongue lolling out between her fangs, she turned to look back at Shiro.

Finally Hunk cleared his throat, bringing almost everyone out of their moment of silence. “So was I the only one who thought that really sounded like-“

“Blam blam blam,” Shiro murmured. His eyes didn’t leave her as she panted back at him, the corners of her mouth turned up in what might’ve been a toothy grin. “I… she just…” Shiro whipped his head up to look at the rest of his team. “You- You all heard that, right?”

Everyone started snickering at his stunned expression, but managed to nod back all the same. “You know what that means, don’t you?” Keith asked, closing his manual with a small smirk.

Pidge didn’t wait for Shiro to guess. “You gotta name her Laser.”

Hunk nodded in agreement. “It’s obviously her birthright.”

“Or her _bark_ right.” A shorter moment of silence followed as everyone turned to glance at Lance. “Her bark sounds like Shiro’s laser sound effects and you all won’t let me have this one bad pun?”

Keith arched an eyebrow. “Just one, huh?”

Pidge gasped. “Was that a joke?”

“I _told_ you I wasn’t making it up! Keith _jokes_ now! First in the weblum and now _here!_ ”

Lance gave a mock pout but said nothing. It was Shiro’s sort of birthday (a day off for another two years, unfortunately), and no one had any intention of ruining that by actually hurting one another. It was a day for fun and relaxing, for easy teasing and harmless jokes. And of course it was a day for surprising their overworked, overstressed, unrested leader with an alien pet. They all needed that, Shiro most of all.

Shiro ran a hand over the soft fur at the top of the Mahrit’s head, settling behind one of her ears to give her a scratch. Beneath his touch, her fur began to turn purple. “It’s a good name,” he agreed. “How do you feel about it? You mind being called that for the rest of your life? Laser?”

“BLAM BLAM BLAM.”

Without the shock to stop him, Shiro could only laugh as she continued to bark.

He looked happy, as if for the first time there were no strings attached. No past or future or fate of the universe.

It would potentially only last them a few minutes more, but everyone was ready to take what they could get. A heartbeat of Shiro being happy was a gift. As far as everyone was concerned, Laser had already found her place on the ship.

\- - -

At least until Allura realized just what sort of pet they’d gotten Shiro.

“You didn’t look _into_ the pet you decided to get Shiro from the IHS before you actually _got it_?” Allura snapped, pressing manicured fingernails to the furrow in her brow that only showed up when she was impressively angered or frustrated. The party had been the night before, and while it was ridiculously early for the other paladins to be up – except Pidge, who had made the decision to stay up all night designing a tracker collar for Laser – they all had found themselves reluctantly bright eyed, bushy tailed, and called to a meeting room by Allura. When Shiro and the Blade hadn’t been invited, they’d all been a little on edge. But when Allura started asking about the Intergalactic Humane Society adoption process, well…

“It looked like a puppy!” was Pidge’s feeble argument, done in a whine perfected by a younger sibling who didn’t want to be the one scolded. Which - if anyone was curious - had gotten her out of quite a few nasty situations. As far as her parents knew, toddler Pidge was an angel and child Matt had a nasty habit of taking apart their household appliances.

“Kinda like a Shiba Inu and a Rottweiler mix,” Keith added. His own contribution was not much better. Or better at all, for that matter.

“A _Shi-ro_ ! For _Shiro_!” Lance emphasized with great enthusiasm and a pointed thrust of his arms into the air.

“We didn’t realize the three-beaked land squid would be a safer option,” Hunk mumbled, looking at his feet. The three-beaked land squid thing _had_ looked rather… well, not like the safer option. In their defense it had actually looked like the sort of thing mythic heroes crossed oceans and realms of demons to _destroy_. “Puppies back home don’t usually grow to be ten feet tall. Or spit acid. Or have venomous fangs. Or eat through battleship hulls.” There was still a list two pages long in 8 point Times New Altean, single-spaced, that suggested how unsafe a Mahrit could be. Hunk was just choosing not to pull it out to read off the rest of the bullet points. They all had them. Allura had handed out the list to each of them, and they had all accepted it like a pop quiz from that chapter they hadn’t read.

Allura groaned. “You fly _Voltron_ . We’ve made alliances across two dozen solar systems, explored over a hundred planets, and you still think that if it looks like something on Earth it _is_? She- It has to go. There’s no other solution.”

There were quick glances between the four paladins, lip biting on Lance’s end, Hunk wrapping his arms around himself. Pidge shoved her hands into her pockets and Keith crossed his arms.

“You’re not saying something,” Allura snapped. “You think we should endanger our own lives, the Castle, the safety of the universe, all because you feel nostalgic about an Earth pet?”

Despite his big personality, Lance looked incredibly small when he answered. “We just thought… Shiro’s been away from home for a long time and he’s never even _mentioned_ anything about his life before Kerberos since we’ve been out here and… and it’d be nice if he could have some of the good parts. You know, like the dogs back on Earth.”

“Having a pet can be good for you… mentally and stuff,” Hunk added, just as small, just as afraid to talk about what everyone always avoided when it came to Shiro.

You could talk about the arm, you could talk about the flashbacks, but you couldn’t talk about _Shiro_. Not really. Not entirely.

Shiro’s well being was forbidden ground; just as unknown as it was out of their reach. He had a knack for snatching back any hints of what was going on in his head before they made it into the light. He could be shattering in front of them and they wouldn’t know.

Being away from home took its toll on everyone, but you pair it with everything Shiro’s been through and what did you get?

She didn’t know the answer, but it pressed heavy against her lungs.

Allura forced her gaze to stay on Lance for as long as she could manage. He had to know she understood. Understood what losing home, no matter how permanent or temporary, meant.

But she was firm in her decision anyway.

Evidently her unshakeable attitude was loud and clear without her saying a word. “Matt mentioned once that Shiro had a dog when he was really little, but his parents had to give it up when they moved into this really tiny apartment for their work,” Pidge muttered. Her fingers were twitching in her pocket, remembering a picture of her and her brother she no longer had in space. “Shiro apparently used to tell Matt at the Garrison that if he ever retired from space missions he’d get another in a heartbeat… Shiro is always looking out for us but no one ever asks him… no one _can_ ever ask him. We just thought-”

“Shiro never wants to burden us with his problems,” Keith started, a bite in his voice that was gone just as quickly as it appeared. “We were kind of hoping that maybe… he’d make an exception for her.”

Allura’s lower lip trembled. She wanted to agree with them. They were as vulnerable in that moment as they were right. Allura hadn’t missed that.

But she knew the reality of the situation. “The Mahrit is too dangerous and too much with all that we have to do, even if you ignore half the things she will become,” Allura insisted firmly, expression set like stone. “I understand what you were trying to do. I… I want that too. I want that for Shiro. But the Mahrit – she’s not a space dog and she’s not the answer. There are so many risks in keeping her here. Maybe one day we will find the time to get something harmless but… She’s not a good fit for us or our mission. I’m, I’m sorry. I am really…”

There were tears in Lance’s eyes.

“I’m very sorry.” She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t look at any of them. She’d get tears of her own if she did. “Come, paladins. Shiro will understand. He… He always understands the risks and benefits to the team. To the mission.”

He did.

They knew he did.

They were her hollow shadows as she walked to Shiro’s room, reluctant to follow after her, reluctant to be the messengers of something sadder and darker than they wanted to be. It wasn’t a planet they failed to save. It wasn’t prisoners still enslaved because they didn’t get there in time. It wasn’t a death sentence on a Galra scout they couldn’t let get away.

But it felt just the same.

No one spoke. Sometimes, when she paused to unlock a door, she wondered if they were even breathing. A soft, hiccupping sob from Lance and a sniffle from Hunk was her only confirmation that they were.

Coran contacted them from the main deck. Shiro’s genetic signature hadn’t been used to open or lock any doors since he had entered his bedroom last night. Either he hadn’t locked his door – which was something he had always done before – or he was still asleep.

Which, given that it was sort of eight in the morning according to their rough conversion of Altean time, seemed just as improbable. Shiro was always awake and alert by seven when Allura met him in the dining area.

Allura stared at the ceiling speakers, Coran’s voice long since gone silent. She was just as confused as they were. Finally she sighed, reaching whatever inner resolve she needed to tear her eyes away. “Alright. We’ll check his quarters first. But be prepared to split up. The Castle is old. It’s possible it didn’t record his signature scan this morning.”

No one looked prepared to do anything but follow her like a funeral procession.

Allura walked towards his room at a brisk pace, forcing them to do more than shuffle after her if they hoped to keep up. Or, at least, if they were to keep up like she expected them to. They didn’t seem to be hoping for much of anything.

Shiro’s room wasn’t specially marked, blending in to the repetition of sleek doors and room indicators. But it didn’t need to have his name written on the front for them to recognize where they were. Any other idea the thought of coming here might have almost been exciting. No one had been inside his room before, and no matter what unfortunate fact that indicated, it would have normally been fun to find out how Shiro decorated his room.

But not today.

Allura paused outside the door, sending a glance over her shoulder. Everyone was still there. No one had left or lingered. Certain of that, she pressed the buzzer that would alert Shiro to someone being outside the door.

And then they waited.

It was thirty ticks before she pushed the buzzer again.

More waiting.

Another push, another thirty ticks of waiting.

Something flashed in the princess’s eyes, wild and unsure as she suddenly opened a secondary panel, the buttons slipping from nowhere to meet her, along with a screen that flashed a strange, light blue line graph. Her fingers flew over the keys.

Then her gaze caught the odd graph and her eyes went wide.

The door slid open, overridden by whatever code she had entered into the previously invisible panel, the same panel that was vanishing and taking whatever Allura had seen with it.

Heavy breathing drifted out of the room and into the hall, no longer blocked by the door.

The light of the hallway cut through a slice of the darkness. In the cramped confines of Shiro’s bunk they saw the silhouette, strange in its oddly bulky top.

It was Laser.

Shiro’s back was to the door, his knees tucked up, hands deep in Laser’s thick coat of fur. She was curled against his knees and chest, finally successful in her attempt to wind herself into a ball.

Allura gasped, and Laser’s ears pricked up. Before any of them could blink, all six of her eyes were open, glowing their warm orange as their slitted pupils zeroed in on the paladins and the princess, her head hovering over Shiro’s. She recognized them – had to from sleeping in most of their rooms to keep the secret from Shiro. That recognition most likely kept her from doing more, but she settled her head atop Shiro’s, eyes wide and unblinking as she watched them.

“Sorry, Laser,” Hunk whispered, voice watery and stuck somewhere in his throat. Laser seemed to accept his apology, blinking a few times before nuzzling against Shiro’s undercut. Shiro’s fingers wove deeper into her fur, pulling the rest of her closer with a soft sigh. Her eyes slid shut again, but no one missed the way she still faced the door. No one was to wake up Shiro. Not on her watch.

In a daze, Allura’s hand floated up to the panel of its own accord, commanding the door to slide shut again.

Lance sobbed the moment it closed.

“I _can’t._ Allura, I _can’t_ do this.”

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t,” she whispered, voice sudden and growing sharp with each word. “You _will_ . I don’t want to do this either but you need to see reason.” Allura kept her face to the door as she spoke, as if she could still see the scene if she stared hard enough. There was something extra startling about what they’d seen, something that caught Allura off guard in a way the paladins didn’t understand. The way her eyes didn’t flicker from the door for even a _second_ -

Something was up.

“She will grow into something none of us can handle,” she continued, voice still soft. “She won’t mean to hurt us but she will. She won’t mean to ruin vital parts of this castle, reveal our position on missions, be so difficult to take care of, but she _will anyway!_ And at the end of the day, have you read that list of commands? Truly read it? Mahrits aren’t fully domesticated, and even if they were, _this one_ has been trained to taste for poisons. Take down squadrons. Rip fighter ships apart. She was trained to _kill_ . There’s no room for error in this, there’s… we can’t afford to mess up here. It doesn’t matter if you can’t do this because you _must._ Shiro will-“

“You can’t say that.”

Allura whirled to glare at Keith, nostrils flaring. “I _can’t_?” She all but shot the words at him, teeth bared.

“If you tell Shiro that those are your reasons, we’ll lose him too.”

Silence.

Allura had thought they were quiet before, had been unsure if they were even breathing.

But no one was breathing now.

She hadn’t known it had been loud before. Now the quiet had arrived, sudden and harsh like lightning, leaving everyone stunned.

“What do you mean?” she whispered, her voice tight.

Keith refused to look at any of them. His eyes were hard, stubbornly staring down the hallway. “When we were separated… when we were all on different planets, Shiro told me if he died that I needed to pilot the Black Lion. He wanted me to lead Voltron. And that-“ He stopped, gritting his teeth. They knew the story. When Shiro had vanished after their fight against Zarkon - he’d had the Black Paladin bayard for mere _minutes_ \- and they’d been left with the glaring hole - a cavernous pit, really - in their family, they’d all been distraught. But as the days went by they’d come to realize that, while they wouldn’t stop looking for Shiro, they couldn’t ignore the distressed universe either. But being unable to form Voltron had been a problem. Every time they tried to bring up what to do about the empty lion Keith lost it and stormed out of the room.

When he told them about what Shiro had said, they’d stopped pressing the issue. They didn’t form Voltron. It was, in the end, as simple and devastating as that.

Now, much like then, Keith was prying the words out of his own mouth. “That hasn’t been the only time. He’s mentioned it before. Mentioned it after, too, like when we went to see the Blade. He talks about leaving a lot. Going away. Disappearing. Dying. Whatever the _fuck_ he thinks is going to happen to him so that we won’t have to get rid of him ourselves. He doesn’t want us to have to make that call. He’s hoping the universe will make it for us. He’ll be gone and we’ll be safe.”

Allura pressed her lips into a thin line. “Keith-“

“ _No._ Ruin vital castle parts, right? Remember that memory pod that Shiro sent into space when he panicked? Every time he’s crushed or bent something when he forgets his arm’s strength?” Allura’s gaze flickered to the ground. She had that look again. “Or what about revealing our position? Zarkon fucking _tracked us through him and the Black Lion._ He doesn’t remember what’s happened to him, he doesn’t know what he’s capable of, he doesn’t know what his _arm_ is capable of!”

Keith was shouting by this point, but who the hell cared? There were ten people in the fucking Castle and five of them were in a hall about to go rip away a space dog from their best friend. What the fuck did it matter if he yelled?

“Once, _once_ , he mentioned a nightmare. He said that us dying because of him was his worst nightmare and when I told him that was utter bullshit, that would never happen he told me he’d seen it. Even if it wasn’t real he’d seen it. And don’t-” Keith’s voice cut out, and he scrambled to get it back with a sound livid and wet and deep in his chest. “Don’t talk about being trained to _kill_ , Allura. Do you want us to get rid of _Shiro_?! Because it sure as hell seems like he thinks he fits your requirements!”

He whipped around to face her. Any faster and she might’ve thought something would snap inside him.

No.

Something already had.

She stared at him, eyes wide. “No. No of course I- how could you ask that of me?”

“How could you ask us to tell him to get rid of Laser, this space dog that makes him _happy_ , for all the same reasons he thinks he should _die_?” Pidge spat the words, shaking where she stood.

Allura slammed a fist into the wall, growling through her teeth. “This is ridiculous. Shiro would know we don’t mean him. That’s obvious. He’s your leader. He’s the Black Paladin-“

“Can’t _you_ pilot the Black Lion?” Hunk asked quietly, crossing his arms.

Her bangs slipped from her careful bun and into her eyes, and she glared right through them, a tremble in her hard gaze. That was a whole other can of worms, and evidently no one had known it even existed until Hunk said it, because they all looked at her in shock. Shiro had been missing. Keith had gone ballistic over the idea of having to pilot the Black Lion. Allura had said _nothing_ . Hell, _Hunk_ had said nothing. “Even if I _can,_ I am not bonded with all of you like Shiro is. I don’t have your connection. I have to pilot this castle, I can’t be there too. And Shiro is _Shiro._ You know that just like I do. He’s intelligent, he’s kind, he’s got a lot on his plate but...” Her fiery words were losing heat, fading into smoldering embers. “This… none of this applies to him. He’s… He’s so much more than he thinks he is. Me being a Black Paladin would have no change on the situation, so what does it matter? Shiro must know this. He will get that this is all purely because of the Mahrit. It’s different. He will-“

“Understand. Yeah, we get it. _Can’t you see how that’s the problem?_ ” The tears were streaming down Lance’s face again as he bit back a sob, a desperate attempt to keep himself together. “She makes him happy. She made him laugh like he didn’t fight to the death every day for a year, like the most twisted witch in the universe and the fucking Evil Incarnate Emperor of the Universe don’t haunt whatever dreams he gets! But he’ll put on his fucking understanding smile – you _know_ which one I’m talking about – and agree to release her on whatever suitable planet we find. He’ll give everything up for us again, like he _always_ does. He’ll put us before himself, he’ll sacrifice his own happiness, and where will we be? He won’t cry or complain, won’t argue with us. Shiro will agree immediately, you know he will. And worse comes to worse, he’ll offer to fly her down to the planet himself just to say good-bye. Then who knows, maybe he’ll also get the message that if _she’s_ not safe why would we think _he_ is? Suddenly we’re getting a call from his pod saying something’s going wrong, Shiro’s changed course, he’s not heading back to the castle. He’s making the call for us. He’s got to go, what we say be damned.”

He didn’t speak, but no one said anything after.

 

 

 

 

 

They waited.

 

 

 

 

 

Lance remembered how to breathe.

 

 

 

 

 

With some time, he murmured one last thing. “He understands that you may have a database all about the Mahrit and how dangerous they may be and you want Laser gone. But… But there is _nothing_ on him… How is that not the problem?”

There was no knife strong enough to cut through the tension, getting thicker by the tick.

Allura’s sharpness cracked and then crumpled, leaving her limp and exposed where she stood. “I’m… I’m sorry.” The words were little more than a shuddering exhale. “I’m so- I’m so s-sorry. I didn’t…” Her fingers were running through her hair now, the bun going slack at the base of her neck, strands coming loose and trailing down her back. “You’re right. I- I know you were right the moment I opened that panel. The graph- I thought- and then the door _opened_ and I just-”

“Wait, what about the graph? You mean the one that came up with that panel you whipped out of nowhere?” Pidge asked abruptly, suddenly laser focused on Allura.

“It’s just a bit of health tech. The room adjusts to your sleep patterns, records how much and how deeply you sleep. It’s meant for check-ups, basic scan info, sometimes for calibrating the pods to your body, that sort of thing,” Allura explained.

Keith’s face pinched. “What does that have to do with-”

“How much has Shiro been sleeping?”

Hunk’s voice was in Serious mode, Get to the Point mode, the very same frustrated, determined tone he’d used the day they’d encountered Rolo.

Allura glanced at Hunk, her eyes watery. “A few hours a night, never all at once, and never very deep. He usually stays in his room until 7, though.”

“Probably so that if any of us checked the bio scans, we’d think he slept until then,” Pidge guessed.

“He doesn’t know about the sleep tracker,” Allura affirmed. “I’ve tried to talk to him about it on the nights he does wander out but…”

Keith’s fists clench, knuckles stretching the fabric of his gloves. “Shiro is very good about not talking about _Shiro_.”

Allura sighed. “But the graph just now says Shiro was in deep sleep for five hours, woke up for around fifteen minutes, and then went back to sleep. It’s been…” She paused, running her long fingers over the wall until the panel appears again, along with that graph. “It’s been another three hours since then,” she finished. “So I knew… I knew you were right before the door even opened. She’s… She’s been in his life twenty-four hours and already… already she has done more for him, and for the rest of you too, I believe, than I’ve been able to do for you since you came here.”

Well _that_ was a turn. “Princess?” Lance’s voice was soft but bright, a flicker of hope at what she was saying, but also a question. As far as he could tell, it seemed like they could keep the Mahrit now. But then why did she sound so sullen?

“I haven’t been a good leader to you. I- my father was always so good at this, and I was constantly trying to show him that I could be too. Back then he always said I was falling short, and I refused to believe him. I was stubborn. My style of leading was just different, I thought. But maybe… maybe he was right. I have a lot to work on. My people, my Paladins, my-” a smile tugged at her lips “my family have been homesick and lost and stressed and I have not made it any better. You’ve all worked hard, you’ve been doing your best. I yanked you out of your lives and threw you into this war and you’ve done… you’ve done _wonderfully_. But you’ve struggled, and I’ve pushed anyway. You’ve had things you wanted to say and I’ve talked over them. I know I’m not bonded to you like Shiro but… but maybe we should talk. I want to have a connection with you. You’re all important to me.”

The paladins looked at each other, eyebrows raised, mouths popped open a hair. And then they all turned to her.

“Laser stays?” Hunk asked.

Allura nodded.

They continued to stare.

“Yes,” she added, watching as the verbal confirmation made their faces go warm and soft with sleep around the edges. She’d woken them early to rip Laser away from Shiro, and now that they were no longer the messengers of bad news, they were letting their exhaustion show. Allura wasn’t going to  have their heads anymore.

“Then yeah,” Pidge agreed.

“Talking… talking would be good,” Keith added, a touch of nerves in his voice. But, if his smile was anything to go by, they weren’t the bad kind.

\- - -

Shiro woke to something chewing on his hair.

Instinctively he tensed and activated his arm, eyes sliding upwards to take in the situation.

Two of Laser’s six orange eyes stared back, wide and not unlike Pidge sneaking two or seven of Hunk’s space cookies. Her jaw went slack immediately, letting his white bangs free so that they could fall back to Shiro’s forehead in all their drool-slick glory.

As all eloquent and dignified leaders do, Shiro spluttered. And snorted. And eventually, as the thought slowly occurred to him, deactivated his arm so he could daintily pry his damp bangs from his face.

“Good morning you,” he greeted, all bark and no bite as he smiled at her.

She whuffled (totally a real word, but don’t look it up and check) and then gave a soft “blam” as her tongue flitted out to lick his face.He snorted again before burying his face into the thick, furry ruff of her neck. Everything was muffled and warm. It was like he’d been asleep for ages, his muscles finally settling inside him.

Shiro hadn’t woken up feeling safe and happy since…

Since…

Shiro finally sat up, Laser scrambling to her feet in anticipation of… something. She was much more alert than he was, which was pretty eerie considering he was so used to being on edge. But now he just felt rested. She took to leaping off the bed and investigating the crannies of his small room as he reached over to check the time.

Did that say-?

 _Impossible_.

“I’ve had you less than a day and you’ve already been a bad influence on me, you know that?” Given the bright look she gave him, Shiro hazarded a guess that yes, she knew, yes, she was pleased, and no, she had no intentions of changing her bad influence-y ways. “Eleven a.m. It is practically lunch at this point. You have reverted me back to my lazy high school ways. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Laser just stood at the door wiggling her entire body, tail wagging rapidly as he finally stood and peeled off his tank top and sweatpants. She continued to do so throughout his whole little routine, including the rapid washing off the hair she’d been so affectionately chewing on, as well as the changing into his signature clothes.

The castle felt abnormally quiet when he finally exited his room. Sure there were only ten people on the entire ship, but it was so close to lunch time and he’d been gone for a rather unusual amount of time considering he was Shiro. Surely _someone_ was causing trouble or looking for him. Or looking for him _because_ they’d caused trouble.

Laser immediately went off as if she’d lived in the castle her whole life, and Shiro - with a quizzical frown - followed her.

All the way to the lounge.

Huh. He wondered why she would-

The doors to the lounge soundlessly slid open at Laser’s approach.

Which answered all his questions about why the castle was so quiet.

The paladins and their princess were strewn about the couch, draped and piled and slotted together like ill-fitting puzzle pieces - the kind where it looked like the picture lined up but not quite but it’s a 1000 piece puzzle and you kind of don’t care anymore. Pidge’s leg was impossibly hooked over the back of the couch, Lance was in the process of oozing off the couch head first, and Allura had somehow managed to use Hunk as a pillow while also smothering yet not-smothering a sleeping Keith with a leg.

It was a pretty picture, one ruined before Shiro could request the castle take a photo because Laser was evidently not one to be outdone in cuddling.

She had six legs, and she managed to use them all to leap and land on some part or another of each and every paladin, Allura being the only lucky escapee as her Altean reflexes kicked into gear.

Shiro tried to keep quiet through their alarmed yelps and aborted shrieks, their startled cries often cut off whenever they got fur in their mouth or a Mahrit tongue to the eye. But acting was not really his strong suit, and sooner or later the laughter was bound to get out.

Hunk was the one who managed to manhandle Laser to a standstill as everyone’s eyes shot over to Shiro. Their Black Paladin was beaming, a wide and easy smile poorly hidden beneath his human hand. It took everyone a moment to register his laughter, too stunned by how bright he was in the doorway, the well lit hallway behind him a halo where he stood before the darkened lounge. “Sleep well?” Hunk murmured, absently reaching for Pidge’s glasses where they’d slid into the rat’s nest she called her hair.

Shiro’s mouth popped open, an answer on his tongue before he knew what it was. It made him pause. “Yeah. Actually… I did?” He pressed his lips together and looked around the room, as if seeking confirmation from his teammates. As if he was unsure. As if the answer was a surprise. How could he have slept well?

Pidge snorted. “Don’t sound so surprised about that.”

Keith lazily raised a hand, or what little of it he could raise with a third of Laser sitting on him. “Well, we’re going back to sleep until lunch. You woke us up _way_ too early, you… you…”

“You early rising person,” Lance finished from where he was slowly but surely lifting his upper half back onto the couch using abs no one knew he had.

“Yes,” Keith mumbled. “Thank you. Lance.”

“So feel free to join,” Hunk offered, sliding Pidge’s glasses back into place on the bridge of her nose before gesturing grandly to the cuddle puddle. “If Keith and Pidge just reconfigure, there will be plenty of room.”

Shiro smirked. “Sounds nice. But- no, I probably slept enough already. I should really take Laser for a walk… and I guess find her somewhere to go to the bathroom? I’m assuming she has to-”

A loud whuffle escaped from somewhere in the stack of limbs. Laser had managed to wedge her muzzle somewhere in the depths and still breathe at the same time. Pidge experimentally lifted an arm, looking for Laser’s face. “Well, whaddya know. She’s on board.”

“Wha- I- Hey, for real?!” Lance unceremoniously yanked Keith’s torso upward, earning what sounded like a rather displeased cat yowl from the Red Paladin. His efforts found him a single orange eye happily peering up at him - pleased with her hiding place evidently. “When’s the last time you _peed_ ?” Somewhere near Allura her tail began to thump, pleased with Lance speaking to her because she had no idea what she was being accused of. With an affronted sound Lance put Keith back down. “When I had her in _my_ room I had to take her out every hour. What, you finally decide to upgrade to a regular sized bladder? Seriously?”

“Bitter much?” Keith grumbled, readjusting more now that he knew he had a space dog trying to sleep _under him_.

“It’s a sign. Come. Your destiny beckons,” Allura started with a yawn, lazily gesturing towards whatever little space Keith and Pidge had managed to make for Shiro - not much but they were going to pretend.

Shiro crossed his arms. “My destiny, huh?”

“Yes. Your sleepover destiny,” Hunk seconded.

Lance nodded sagely. “The best kind.”

Pidge stretched. “Especially if you use Allura as a pillow and Lance’s legs as a blanket. Keith,” she kicked out with one sock-covered foot “make room for the birthday guy.”

Shiro laughed as Keith did as told, readjusting yet again to reveal an extra few square inches of space. “Allura, I can’t believe you’re allowing this.”

“I have no idea what you mean. I’m quite proud of my pillow skills.”

“No, I mean-”

She silenced him with a simple look, one gentle and smiling and relaxed. She hadn’t looked so well-rested in weeks. None of them had. They looked more comfortable in their skin in that moment than they had in awhile. They looked more comfortable with each other - and with him? - than they had… ever. “We are _bonding_ , Shiro, and it is very crucial for all paladins. Now, as a fellow leader you must show a good example to your team and do the same. Laser’s already got the right idea.”

The right idea, huh? Maybe. She’d been offered each paladin and the princess as mattress options and, instead of picking one, had checked “all of the above”. But she also looked to be purposefully suffocating herself.

From beneath Keith Laser began to wriggle, prying her head free to look at him. She cocked her head to one side, her left ear flopping over. _Come here, you dumb dumb._

His composure crumbled. He couldn’t even try anymore. If his paladins in a big sleep pile didn’t break his resolve, Laser’s puppy eyes certainly did.

Accepting his destiny had never been as easy as it was in that moment. Staying alive, fighting the Galra Empire, saving the universe; it had never seen possible. He’d always figured he’d fail at one if not all of them.

But in that moment it was doable. In that moment he looked at his team - at his family - and realized it was because that wasn’t all of it.

His destiny was more than that.

His destiny was full of strange bonding exercises, of making cheerleader pyramids out of giant cat robots and of snowball-style pollen fights, of bickering and joking with his best friends, of crazy space dogs and sleepovers.

Shiro took a few steps towards the pile, running a hand through Laser’s fur as she scrambled to make room for him - rearranging her human mattresses in the process. “Alright, alright. Hunk, how are your pillow skills?”

“Excuse me, Shiro, but I believe Pidge recommended _me_ as the best pillow.”

“I dunno. I’ll probably have to test everyone’s pillow skills. Just to be sure, you know. As any good leader should. Right, Laser?”

“BLAM BLAM BLAM!”

“My thoughts exactly.”

**Author's Note:**

> What even are endings? No idea. Anyway that accidentally got angst-y. Whoops. I'd intended to end this fic... maybe 3000 words in and then... forgot to stop myself.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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